THE Red Sox were a giddy bunch around the batting cage last night. That was long before they faced Jose Contreras and Mariano Rivera.

Kevin Millar and Doug Mirabelli spotted Yankee Extreme Fan Spike Lee dressed in Yankee cap and jacket and bounced over to see him. Millar asked Spike if he wanted to wear his Boston cap and attempted a trading spaces move.

“I can’t wear that,” Spike said, proudly standing his Yankee ground as the three went on to exchange pleasantries and Millar asked to be in Spike’s next movie.

A few minutes later the Bosox pair left and Spike said, “I can’t stand the Red Sox. It would kill me to lose to these guys. They’re scary, though.”

Not as scary as Wednesday night.

The world once again saw last night how the Yankees do postseason business in their 6-2 victory over the Red Sox at a raucous Yankee Stadium.

It’s all about the arms, and now Joe Torre has a new ace in the hole in Contreras. He’s the one who got away from the Red Sox, and could prove to be the wild card of this whole ALCS showdown.

When the free-agent Contreras signed on with the Yankees this offseason, as the legend goes, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein trashed some fine hotel furniture he was so upset with losing the big right-hander. Epstein adamantly denies that story, but there is no doubt the acquisition of Contreras could swing the tide of this battle.

You can be sure there will be some broken furniture, hotel and otherwise, in Boston if that occurs and the Yankees continue The Curse. Let’s just call this the Curse of Contreras.

Contreras sat out the Twins series – you do that with secret weapons – and made his postseason debut Wednesday night, striking out the heart of the Boston lineup in the ninth.

This time, Contreras came on in seventh for Andy Pettitte with two outs and a runner on first and the Yankees leading, 4-2. The Cuban Missile needed just one pitch to get Nomar Garciaparra to pop to Nick Johnson at first base for the final out.

That was huge because, in the bottom of the inning, Boston manager Grady Little had to go to his middle relief and came up empty with left-hander Scott Sauerbeck.

Jorge Posada lashed a double to left-center to score two and give the Yankees that four-run cushion. The hit also allowed Mariano Rivera to take a little rest and sit down for the eighth.

There was to be no two-inning save for Mariano on this night, just your conventional ninth inning work.

Contreras marched to the mound in the eighth and made his presence felt. Just think of Contreras as the new El Duque. Remember the postseason lift Orlando Hernandez gave Torre and the Yankees. Contreras can do the same thing. As a result, the entire look of this series changes.

Sure, the Red Sox split in enemy territory, but in both games they were unable to touch Contreras. Torre finally has someone other than Rivera who is light’s out coming out of the bullpen.

Against a team like the Red Sox, a team that wins its games with hitting, especially late-inning hitting against relievers that is a tremendous weapon and tremendous advantage. To start the eighth, Contreras faced Manny Ramirez. This was one of those message at-bats. The count went to 3-2 and then Contreras let loose with a 97 mph fastball for strike three.

Then came a message to David Ortiz, who hit the key homer in Game 1. On a 1-0 pitch Contreras fired a fastball over the head of Ortiz and Posada, bringing cheers from the crowd. Ortiz soon popped up. Kevin Millar followed with a pop to Derek Jeter in short left and Contreras’ work was done.

The series is tied, but it is not even – not with Contreras and Rivera coming out of the Yankee bullpen.